Silent Hill 2

The Good
The good thing about this being my first Silent Hill game, I instantly come to terms with the controls, being a fan of the very similar Resident Evil series. With this, the weird-but-unique story kept things interesting, which constantly made you wonder what's going to happen next. This was complimented by its graphics (which, in some FMVs, seemed very realistic) and its great level design. There was little variety of weapons, but most give satisfying results - I myself just used the steel pipe and handgun, mostly because fighting a scary monster up close is better than picking him off at a distance.

The horror and suspense element, and the puzzle element too, was used in a way which was actually quite scary at some times. It was scary that much, I saved like every 10 minutes hoping not to die (I was on "Hard" action mode). The characters and enemy design are fine, the graphics are good, the story is great and the shock horror is just fantastic.

Another great feature I don't remember seeing in other games is the TWO difficulty options - in most games, you choose Easy, Normal or Hard (in some cases, Extreme) - but this game give you the option of choosing how hard the action will be, and how hard the puzzles will be. Thus, if your a genius, you could have "Hard puzzle" but with "Easy action". If you love killing monsters, you'll choose the opposite, but if you want a balance game of both, just put both on Normal. The game has little, but alas, still some, replay value. There are many endings (which I won't spoil), which include about 3 "nice" endings, 1 "bad" ending, and a quite funny "goofy" ending.

Plus, on top of all that - there are extra things to unlock once you have completed the game.

The Bad
What I didn't like the most was probably the voice acting. James', Marias' and Marys' voices were okay, but Eddies' and the other womans' voices could - and should of been - improved on. And apart from the low variety of weapons (mentioned above) made the game feel as if it lacked the right action. But then again, its survival-based, not action-based, but still; a cool magnum would be nice.

The Bottom Line
This game is probably one of the highlights of survival horror on the PlayStation 2 (and other consoles it were on), after the game Resident Evil 4 - but that's "horror-action", this is "horror-survival". I hear they brought out an improved version of this game, which includes an extra "goofy" ending. If you're a fan of the early Resident Evil titles (those released before Resident Evil 4), and love monsters, horror, or just puzzles this game is for you, especially if you like everything mentioned above. However, if you're going to buy this game, better off with the "special" platinum edition of this game (aka "Director's Cut"), or maybe even "The Silent Hill Collection" (which includes Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4).